


J is for Juxtaposition

by Rinkafic



Series: Jux 'verse [2]
Category: Stargate Atlantis
Genre: M/M, Stargate Atlantis AU
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2012-04-03
Updated: 2012-04-03
Packaged: 2017-11-03 00:20:17
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,344
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/374973
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Rinkafic/pseuds/Rinkafic
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>A little juggling of parts, hence the title.  Parrish is the military and Lorne is the scientist in this 'verse.</p>
            </blockquote>





	J is for Juxtaposition

Clutching his P-90 tightly, Parrish tossed his chin towards the chamber door. Stackhouse nodded and raised three fingers to do the count off. When he got to one, the team burst into the room, weapons ready, heads turning to find the hostiles. When a single guard loped into the room, Markham swung the butt of his weapon and knocked him out and tugged the key mechanism on its cord over the man’s head and held it up triumphantly.

“Yes, yes, good, go unlock the damned door!” Parrish hissed.

“You got it, boss,” Markham replied cheerily and ran to the door. As he slid the chunky crystal into the slot beside the door, he whispered over his shoulder to the rest of the team, “I hope it isn’t genetically keyed to that guy.”

With a snort, Stackhouse replied, “If it is; we’ll chop his hand off…” at Parrish’s glare, he shrugged and finished lamely, “… or something.”

The door opened without bloodshed, and the team was greeted with looks of relief and gratitude from most of those within the cell.

Sheppard stood and crossed the cell, slapping Parrish on the shoulder. “Just in time Major, as usual. How many rescues does this make, four?”

“Just this month! And you are never borrowing my geek again,” Parrish edged past Sheppard to check for himself that Lorne was in one piece. Unlike the rest of the captive Lanteans, Doctor Lorne had not risen to his feet; instead he had stayed seated on the floor, his gaze locked straight ahead. As David got close, he noticed that Lorne’s face was bruised and he had a noticeable lump on his forehead.

“You broke him!” Parrish snarled at Sheppard as he crouched beside Lorne. He didn’t care that both away teams were watching as he touched his fingers gently to Evan’s jaw, tilting his head back to look into his eyes. “Evan? Are you with me?” He grew concerned when Evan just stared blankly.

“I did not! The Felpians did that. We need to get him to Beckett; move now, glare later, Parrish.” Sheppard moved to Lorne’s other side and together they carefully hoisted him to his feet. He weaved and stumbled against David. They had to carry Lorne slung between them as they left the Felpian holding cells.

“Never taking my botanist again, Major Sheppard, I don’t care what Sumner and Weir say about it,” David huffed as they reached the Gate and Teyla dialed Atlantis.

“Fine by me, next time _you_ go negotiate the deal and look at the plants, and _my_ team will come rescue your ass when you get tossed in the clink.”

David grunted, only half listening, his concern for Evan paramount at the moment. He’d pay Sheppard back for this; a few rounds in the sparring ring with Athosian Sticks should do the trick. It would also help burn off the tension that was sure to build while his botanist was stuck in the infirmary.

  
~*~   


The look on Doctor Beckett’s face was troublesome as he approached the two majors leaning against the wall. Sheppard had joined Parrish’s team outside the infirmary to wait for news. “I’m afraid we have a problem,” Beckett said.

David pushed away from the wall, “What kind of problem?”

“Evan seems to have a few gaps in his memory. This is likely only temporary; few cases of amnesia are permanent, despite what you lads might have seen on the telly.”

“Amnesia?” Sheppard picked the diagnosis out of the sentence.

Nodding, Beckett reiterated, “Likely temporary. His memory is spotty. He doesn’t remember coming to Atlantis, but he remembers working at Area 51 with Doctor Carter. He remembers his name, but his childhood seems to be a blank.” Knowing the troubled childhood Evan had behind him, David was mildly relieved he didn’t remember that.  
“He remembers some of the projects he does here, and he said I seemed familiar. You may visit for a few minutes, then I want him to rest.”

David brought up the rear behind the others as they went to Lorne’s bedside.

“Hey Doc, sorry I didn’t see that Felpian with the club,” Sheppard remarked casually, apparently ready to treat Evan as if nothing were wrong.

Eyes only half open and looking drugged to the gills, Evan tilted his head to the side and regarded Sheppard. He blinked and looked around at Stackhouse, Markham and Parrish. He paused at David, staring for a few moments before he blinked sleepily. “I guess that’s okay. I feel like I should know you guys, but I can’t remember your names.”

Sheppard reached up to tap his radio. “I’m on my way.” To the others he said, “Gotta go, our Lord and Master wants my report this instant. Chuck says he’s bellowing.” He patted Lorne’s leg, “Get better soon, Doc. Parrish will take it out of my hide if you don’t.” With that, he sauntered out of the infirmary.

Nudging Markham with his shoulder, Stackhouse tipped his head after Sheppard, “We should go, get our reports in before Sumner starts hunting for us too. Hope you feel better soon, Lorne.”

Taking the hint when Stackhouse pressed his lips together and looked over at David and then at Evan, Markham nodded. “Yeah, we should do that. See you later, Doctor Lorne.” The marines waved as they left David and Evan alone.

“You hurting, Evan?”

“You’re the first person to call me that.”

David nodded and moved closer to the bed. The bruises looked worse in the bright infirmary lights, much worse. He couldn’t help himself; he reached his fingers out to stroke lightly across Evan’s brow, tracing the line of the injury. “This looks painful.”

Evan’s hand came up and he grabbed at David’s hand just as he started to drop it away. “The drugs are helping, it doesn’t hurt much. I should know you.”

“I’m David.” He was disappointed when Evan let go of his hand.

“We’re friends?”

Choking back emotion, Parrish nodded, even as he prayed that this was only temporary. “Yeah. You’re on my team.”

“Your Gate team. Are you Major Parrish?”

“You remember?”

Evan slowly moved his head back and forth. “Not really, Doctor Beckett mentioned it when he was asking me questions about what I remembered. I’m really sleepy.”

Concerned, David twitched the blanket up a bit higher and advised quietly, “Sleep. I’ll be back later.”

“Okay. Sorry I don’t remember,” Evan said wearily as he closed his eyes.

Once he was certain Evan slept, David left the infirmary. There might still be time to rescue Sheppard from Sumner’s clutches so he could pound the crap out of him for damaging his scientist.

  
~*~   


Usually, paperwork helped David to center. As Sumner’s exec, he had a lot of it to process. But even the soothing rhythm of the routine did nothing to calm his frayed nerves. He was more wound up than usual over Evan’s injuries. The blankness in Evan’s eyes, the way he looked at David as if he were a complete stranger had hurt, far more than David wanted to admit.

It had been two weeks, and Doctor Lorne still had his case of ‘temporary’ amnesia. He’d been released from the infirmary and a few days ago had been allowed to resume some light duties in the greenhouses. Doctor Beckett felt a return to routine might help his recovery.

Parrish shut his laptop down and shoved away from his desk. He ran a hand over his face and then back through his short, spiked hair. He needed to do something, he needed to move. He looked up to see Sheppard leaning in the doorframe. John smirked at him, “Wanna go beat up marines?”

“Hell yeah!” David was up and around the desk in a heartbeat, on his way to the door.

When they had first arrived here, the marines had picked David out as an easy mark, a zoomie they could push around in the sparring ring. They had mistaken his size for weakness; something many people had done over the years. His father had enrolled him in martial arts as a child when it became apparent that no amount of food was going to bulk the boy up. By the time he finished high school, David had mastered several forms of martial arts, and had a shelf full of trophies at home to show for it. He’d surprised everyone by applying to the Air Force Academy and becoming a pilot. He hadn’t regretted it; he loved flying.

The marines groaned when Parrish followed Sheppard into the gym, anticipating a double beat down from the senior officers.

By the time David left the gym, he was dripping with sweat and physically worn out. He hoped it would be enough to help him sleep. He hadn’t had a decent night’s sleep since Evan had been hurt. The workout had not made him feel any better. Even pinning Sheppard several times and catching the major off guard with the sticks had not relieved the knot of tension in his gut.

He saw Evan every day. David made a point of seeking him out so that he could check on him. His cheerful botanist had been replaced by a cautious stranger. There were shadows in Evan’s eyes. This must be how Evan had been before he had been adopted by the Lorne family; skittish and quiet and haunted. Evan had confided that he might not have made it through high school if it had not been for the foster family that had taken him in and later adopted him. They gave him a reason to live, a family to be part of. They had fostered Evan’s artistic talent, and he had grown to love the plants he drew and painted, enough so that he studied botany when he went to college.

Doctor Beckett told David that if Evan’s memory did not return before the Daedalus came back on her quarterly supply run, he would be shipped back to Earth, to his family. The SGC had rules and regulations about these kinds of situations. Parrish knew this possibility was part of the tension he felt. He really didn’t want Evan to leave.

Wearily, David bid goodbye to Sheppard, declining an invite to Movie Night. He trudged back to his quarters after grabbing a quick meal at the mess. He showered and flopped on the bed, intending to rest his eyes for a few minutes before attempting to tackle a backlog of personnel reports on his desk before turning in for the night and making an attempt at sleep once more.

Warm hands on his face and bare shoulder woke him. He opened his eyes to see Evan leaning over him, confusion evident on his face.

“Evan?”

“Why didn’t you tell me?!?” Evan demanded.

Pinned beneath Lorne, David reached up to rub his eyes. The sky outside the windows was dark, he had overslept; it was night now. The room lights were on at the lowest setting. Evan must have turned them on when he came in. The room was keyed to allow him entry; he hadn’t needed to ring the chime. David must have really been out to have not awakened as Evan came in.

“Tell you what, Evan?”

Lorne leaned down and captured David’s lips, kissing him with a bit of desperation. Evan gave a whimper as David slid an arm around his waist and one hand moved to the back of Evan’s head. He held gently, relief washing over him as Evan deepened the kiss and moved against him. When he broke away and opened his eyes, Evan stared down at him. And it was Evan, his Evan. “You remember?”

Their legs intertwined, and Lorne ran a hand over David’s bare chest. “Yes, asshole. Why didn’t you say anything?”

“You had enough to work through; you didn’t need me complicating things.”

“I repeat: Ass. Hole. It might have helped me remember sooner, if you’d said something. ‘Hey, by the way, we’re sleeping together’ - how hard would that have been?”

David ran a hand through the layers of Evan’s hair, flitting to his forehead to gingerly touch the place the lump had been. “Hurt?”

“Just my feelings. I couldn’t figure out why I felt like half of me was missing.” Evan turned his face and kissed the palm of David’s hand.

“I felt the same. I didn’t know what to say, or how to say it.” He pushed lightly at Evan’s hip, nudging him. Lorne rolled off and settled beside him, one arm across David’s chest, one leg thrown across both of David’s.

Looking up at David with mild panic in his eyes, Evan whispered, “Don’t make me go.”

“Never.” Evan relaxed at the reassurance. David wrapped an arm around him and gave a squeeze. I was trying to figure out how to keep you here, against Beckett’s orders. If I couldn’t get them to let you stay, I was going to resign.”

“For me?”

“They were sending you back for your family to take care of you. It felt wrong. I should be the one…”

Evan pressed a kiss to David’s skin. “I don’t remember everything yet. But I remember you, and that we were sleeping together. Until you just said that, I didn’t know how serious it was.”

“As a heart attack… or a case of amnesia. You’re remembering more, it’ll come back, Beckett said it would. And if not, we’ll just work our way back up to where we were.”

“New memories, okay. You want to make some now?” Evan rubbed his foot along David’s calf.

“I’m really too wiped to do more than cuddle, Ev,” David gave him a squeeze and kissed his forehead.

With a sigh of contentment, Evan pressed closer, tucked his chin into David’s shoulder and yawned. “That’s fine, I’m a little tired. Maybe now I can sleep through the night.”

David closed his eyes, echoed the sigh and turned his head to nuzzle Evan’s hair. “Me too, finally,” he whispered, content to have his botanist back where he belonged.

The End... for now


End file.
